Phoenix and Lighter: Igniting a Fire
by bettercrazythanboring
Summary: Changed future. Bianca and Chris meeting young and growing close without knowing they loved each other once. Multi-chaptered through-the-years deal.
1. Magic School

I'd always been babied.

Ever since I could remember, I'd seen my family act differently around me than my siblings. More protective, less confident in my ability to be on my own. At first I'd thought that it was just because I was the youngest (and a little less powerful than my brother). Wyatt had probably been babied when he was the only child too, but it was natural for parents to fuss over the youngest kid; I'd seen it in kindergarten and Magic School. Completely normal. That is, until my sister Melinda came along and wasn't babied nearly as much as I was despite being the new youngest.

When I was five and my mother wouldn't let me go on a field trip to the Underworld, I put a spell on her. When I was eight and a skateboarding mishap took off most of the skin on my left side (that I healed myself, thank you very much) and my parents went into a frenzy, forbidding me to ever skate again, I stomped my way up to the attic and turned the whole house into a building made of skateboards. When I was ten and a demon attacked me while I was home alone, I simply had no words when Mom sent me off to Magic School. Permanently. _Completely disregarding the fact that I'd vanquished the demon. On my own. Without even the aid of the Book of Shadows._

Clearly, adults were lunatics.

The time alone did me a world of good, though. In Magic School no one worried about my safety. I didn't have to check in with anyone. I was free to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Sure, my dad was one of the teachers, but he didn't really get a say in anything that happened outside the four walls of his classroom.

To be honest, it was paradise. I should've _hired_ a demon to attack me a long time ago.

I roamed the main hall for hours at a time, fascinated by how it never ended and peeking in every room it presented. I sat in on classes I was way young to be in, for once liking my almost-royal heritage which meant I could turn myself invisible effortlessly at an early age. I read endless amounts of books on everything I could think of and immersed myself into my studies. For the first time ever, magic wasn't something that simply ___was__,_ it was an interesting new experience, one that captivated my attention and made me excited.

Magic was ___fun__._

Weeks turned into months and I felt no urge to return home. I loved my family no matter how infuriating they were being, of course, but I still saw some of them almost every day and life at home was, to be honest, just too dramatic. Someone always had a crisis and our house had never felt like belonging to us, all manner of creatures just waltzing unannounced at all times of day, burdening my mother and her sisters with their problems. The atmosphere in Magic School was much more laid-back, the stakes weren't as high, and for a little boy who'd spent most of his life in a constant state of alertness for danger, that was pretty important.

Time seemed to pass differently in the School, so I wasn't really sure how much time had passed since the beginning of my exile, but one day I yet again explored the many rooms the main hall had to offer. A potions cabinet, a divination class, a portal to another dimension, a doorway to any place in this world, a life-sized replica of the Source's lair... Some rooms held my attention for only seconds while I could spend several hours in others. Five doors in a row had been uninteresting when the next one revealed an empty, dusty classroom with many half-broken mirrors and a girl sitting on one of the tables, sobbing. I'd seen her in a few of my invisible classes, but I didn't know anything about her other than the fact she was a few years older than me. She seemed tiny in this moment, though. I'd seen her in a few of my invisible classes, but I didn't know anything about her other than the fact she was a few years older than me. She seemed tiny in this moment, though.

Not sure whether I should go ask her what's wrong or leave without intruding, I stood in the doorway awkwardly. Before I could make up my mind, she looked up at the sound and spotted me, quickly wiping away her tears.

"Did you want something?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"No, I was just... going door to door," I said, only realizing now how strange sounded, "Hey, are you-? Well, obviously you're not okay, but is there anything I can do to help?"

A fresh stream of saltwater spilled over and rolled down her cheeks.

"Can you make me be born into a different family?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted, "I've never tried. It's kind of against the rules, you know. I know my brother can, though. And you... weren't being serious, were you?" I realized at the look she gave me. It was like a mix between a wondering who I was and an incredulity that I existed as if that somehow made the world a worse place. Uneasy, I shifted from one foot to the other. "So what did your family do that's so bad?"

"They want me to kill people," she said matter-of-factly.

A minute passed while I mulled that over.

"I could see that being a problem, yeah."

"And the worst part is that... you know, I had pretty much accepted that," she started talking fast, "I get power and knowledge and resources to do whatever I want in exchange for killing a few people. And half of them would be demons anyway, right? That's not really killing,"she reasoned, "Just execution for the better of the world. Not that different from what the Charmed Ones are doing. If I had to end the lives of a few non-demon folk along the way... I was fine with that. But today I asked my mom what it felt like to kill and you know what she said? That a part of you dies every time you take a life. What kind of parenting is that? Why couldn't she have lied to me and said that you don't feel a thing? How am I supposed to be a Phoenix Witch now?" she asked me through her tears and barely contained sobs.

I timidly walked over to where she was and sat on the table next to her.

"I've never heard of a Phoenix Witch," I admitted.

"You're lucky."

"Do you ___want_ to be an assassin?"

"No. I'd rather be normal."

"Well, one of the things my mom taught me is that everyone is free to make their own destiny. Maybe you don't have to be a Phoenix. Maybe you can be normal and your mom was giving you the honest answer to help you choose."

"My mom's not like that."

"Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do?" I offered.

"I wish. Ugh, this is so messed uuuuuup," she groaned and buried her face in her hands, "And on top of everything I missed my power-stripping class because of this. It's the one thing I'm good at."

"I'm sure you're good at lots of things."

"If you're _'____not sure__'_ whether you can alter reality, I really doubt you'd understand."

"No, trust me, I know what it feels like to be an idiot. No matter how hard I try to do something, my brother's always better. There's not a single thing I can do that he can't. And my sister's a prodigy too, even though she's still little. And my twin cousins... don't even get me started on them. I may be good at things, but I can never do as well as the rest of my family."

"Can't be that bad," she said, more dismissive than reassuring, "You make it sound like you're related to the Charmed Ones or something."

"Uh..." I avoided her gaze, also suddenly wishing that I had been born into a different family.

"Seriously?"

"Sort of," I admitted, "It's not a big deal, though. I mean, it is, but not here. I want to be me instead of just another Halliwell. You know?" I looked at her.

"Yeah. I can relate, I guess."

"I'm Chris." I offered my hand. She smiled a little and took it.

"Bianca."


	2. Practice

It had been nearly a year since I'd been enrolled into Magic School full-time.

My family still wasn't giving me space, visiting nearly every day and keeping tabs on me whenever they could, but for the most part I'd grown really fond of the place. Even after nonstop wandering the halls for months upon months, there was still so much to discover. And there were no demons here. That was always a plus, one I couldn't attribute to my actual home. But this was beginning to feel like home as well. Wyatt didn't take classes with me, but Melinda was about to go here half-time as well. And I'd made a couple witch friends - Brian, Trudy and Greg (somehow I hated the name) - who made even the dull moments be fun. Not to mention the Phoenix girl Bianca dropped in every now and then.

She was several levels above me due to being three years older and in a different department altogether, but we kept in touch. Things in her family were kind of settling down after many long conversations she had with me (to figure out what she wanted) and them (to tell them what she wanted) and she had struck a deal with them to go about her Phoenix training as planned, but not give herself out for hire and not using her powers for another several years at all.

We were sitting in an empty classroom, all five of us, practicing reading each other's minds when we were interrupted by Aunt Paige who was substituting for a myriad of teachers, something she did very often and was looking for some particular book. She didn't even seem to notice us, muttering to herself while she searched for the right volume (apparently some book types wouldn't bend to her telekinesis). It was quite typical of her, really, with three noisy kids at home, a cop for a husband and a frequently a class full of teenagers – after a while she must have started tuning the irrelevant stuff out.

We went back to practicing and getting in a few pranks along the way, but five minutes later another person came in looking for something. And then another. And another.

This sure was some popular classroom.

Fed up with the interruptions, we decided to continue our practice another time and went our separate ways. Greg and Trudy went home, Brian went to talk to a teacher about some homework and Bianca and I made our way to the classroom we'd first met in, ready to resume our private practice session of magic a bit more advanced than the other three when I stumbled into my mother.

"Mom, what are you- did you come to check up on me _again_? Woman, you have codependence issues."

"Relax, Chris," she said, laughing, "I was just dropping off Melinda, no need to be up in my throat. Although, now that you mention it, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Just like I was yesterday. And the day before. Goodbye now," I said, hurrying off.

"Well, wait. Aren't you gonna introduce me to your friend?"

"Mom. Stop. Embarrassing. Me."

"No, Chris, it's okay," she reassured me, "Uh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Halliwell. I'm Bianca."

"Bianca, huh?" Mom asked, eyes narrowing in a weird manner, "Any relation to Phoenix witches?"

Bianca recoiled as if having been slapped. "Yes, but... I'm trying to break away from that."

"Huh. Well, good luck with that. I need to go now. I'll see you in a couple days, sweetie."

"Mom!" I whined, sick of words like "sweetie". She only smiled and left.

"How did she know I was a Phoenix?" Bianca asked, "I didn't even give my last name."

"I have no idea. But my mom has weird ways of knowing things. I wouldn't stress about it."

* * *

**A/N**: Super short chapter because for some reason the story isn't going like I hoped. I seem to have some sort of writer's block that only applies to this story. It's weird, but I'm not happy with either this or the first chapter so if it continues I might drop the story altogether, despite how much I love the ship. I wish I knew why it wasn't going.


End file.
